Discover The Edible Pod Radish
A vegetable so old it’s new, just about describes the edible pod radish, for although grown by some pioneer American gardeners, it has long been an almost extinct species here in the United States. So far had it disappeared from the American seed trade that some seedsmen, reputed to be more than usually well-informed, and some of our best experiment station horticultural authorities, have forgotten it, if they had ever known of its existence. At least, most of them replied that they had never !mown of a radish variety grown primarily for its seed pods and not for its roots, when I began a search for a seed stock about three years ago.
The edible pod radish was known to gardeners GO years ago, and it is listed in llortus Second as Raphanus iativus var. caudalus, the latter term being somewhat descriptive of the long seed pods, as indicated in the short description: “Another very different race is the rat-tailed radish. in which the seed pods are highly developed and the root spindling and hard: these pods are often a foot or more long, soft and thick, and are eaten either raw as are radishes, or used in pickles. . . . It has also been called aerial radish.”
The edible pod radish is also described and pictured in an old Asa Gray’s Botany, and it was once cataloged by the venerable seed house of J. M. Thorburn and Company. About 60 years ago my dad had it from a seed company in Des Moines, Iowa, now long out of business, who listed it as “Mougri, a vegetable from Java.”
Although no great horticultural wonder, the edible pod radish certainly deserves a better fate than extinction. In addition to being a root radish substitute and a pickle material, the pods are also good as a cooked vegetable, like asparagus and string beans. It is just as easy to raise as any other radish and has no particular insect enemies, but, of course, takes up more garden space.
It could well be restored to our gardens as it really has more value than several plants that have had extensive and uninterrupted cultivation. I finally found a seed stock at the honey plant or bee pasture gardens of Melvin Pellett at Atlantic, Iowa, who had it on trial from seed from India. Radish flowers are valuable as a source of honey nectar, and it can justifiably be hoped that this vegetable, so long neglected, will be restored to our gardens.
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